Wall St report: Wednesday close

WALL Street reinforced its lesson for the first quarter - that investors favor old economy companies over techs to lead America out of its $6,000bn. market slump of the past two years.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which started the day up 3.3% on the year, rose 73.55 points or 0.71% to 10,426.91. The Nasdaq Index, down 6.4% so far in 2,002, scraped out a gain of 2.58 points to 1,826.75.

Among the strongest sectors today and in the first quarter were oil and golds. ExxonMobil, which led the sector to 12% gains in the past three months, rose another 21 cents or 0.5% to $43.95 with oil touching six-month highs.

Other gainers in a very quiet pre-Passover, pre-Easter market included old industrial names shunned in the Internet boom of two years ago. Boeing firmed $1.54 or 3.4% to $47.33. DuPont climbed 86 cents or 1.8% to $48.37. General Motors added $1.18 or 2% to $60.33. McDonald's tacked on 45 cents or 1.6% to $27.94.

Coca-Cola, which has been among the strongest Dow components this year, retreated 32 cents or 0.6% to $52.28 after it forecast that soft drink sales would rise 4% to 5% in the first quarter.

Techs were mixed to lower, with Intel off 36 cents or 1.2% to $30.41. Semiconductors stood out among techs with a 12% gain in the last three months.

Hewlett-Packard fell 31 cents or 1.7% to $17.77 as it awaits official confirmation of the shareholder vote on its proposed merger with Compaq Computer. Cisco Systems eased 31 cents or 1.9% to $16.34.

Cautious broker comments sent Emerson Electric, one of the main providers of power units for computers, down $3.51 or 5.7% to $58.44. Productivity software maker Manugistics jumped $2.22 or 12.2% to $20.45 after it lost less money than expected in the past quarter.

Amazon.com stumbled 58 cents or 3.9% to $14.25 after Lehman Brothers analyst Holly Becker said the online retailer's market valuation was 'rich on every level.'

Wal-Mart, which has been setting new 52-week highs recently, gave up 17 cents or 0.3% to $62.